Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki has bemoaned the absence of foreign-based players in his squad against Ghana in the AFCON qualifiers.

South Africa has been declared as a coronavirus hotspot by most European countries thus most players based in Europe were not released by their clubs.

Coach Molefi Ntseki handed call ups to nine foreign-based players for the AFCON qualifier but none of them will be available for the game against Ghana.

“It is so sad because we were looking forward to having all our best players in the squad. Bongani Zungu is not coming, Dean Furman, Serero (Thulani) and Keagan (Dolly) are not coming. So, we are still negotiating with the clubs to see if they can release those players. If it is the issue of COVID in South Africa, then we need to have the players in Sudan. If the issue of COVID is Africa, then we won’t have those players for this camp,” he says.

The technical team will now be solely counting on the local-based players.

Vincent Pule, Thabang Monare, Lebohang Maboe, Mthobi Mvala, Thabo Nodada and Thabiso Kutumela, have been added to the Bafana Bafana team.

South Africa need a win to seal their place in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament to be hosted in Cameroon next year.